The Johnny Appleseed

Here is another in a series 

of our weekly Saturday Sippers!

The dog days of summer are over—for the most part anyhow— and summer is quickly slipping away. This time of year the sun is lower, the days are shorter, Canadian geese fly overhead and the garden is a sad jumble of weeds. In our cars we vacillate between heat in the morning and air conditioning in the afternoon, as the temperatures dip at night and climb during the day. You can smell autumn just around the corner... next week, in fact. It's great apple picking weather, and so our Saturday Sipper this week pays homage to the humble apple in a seasonally appropriate libation—The Johnny Appleseed. We're using spiced apple cider and French Calvados—apple brandy—which I keep in my pantry for baking apple tarts.

THE JOHNNY APPLESEED

2 cups apple cider

2 cinnamon sticks

2 cloves

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla syrup (this has vanilla beans in it)

a squeeze of a lemon wedge

2-3 oz. Calvados apple brandy
a crisp apple and cinnamon sticks for garnish

Put cider and all the ingredients except for the Calvados into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let steep for 30 minutes or so. Strain and chill. To make drinks, put ice into two glasses, add an ounce (or a splash more!) of Calvados into each glass, and then add the spiced cider. Garnish with sliced apples and cinnamon sticks. 

Makes two apple-icious cocktails!